Touch the Sun (Australian TV series)


Touch the Sun is a series of television films commissioned by the Australian Children's Television Foundation in 1988 as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. It may have been intended that seven feature-length episodes were produced, one for each State, plus the Northern Territory, but only six were completed. Executive producer was Patricia Edgar in association with the ABC and production company Revcom.

Scope

The six telemovies deal with issues important to children: adoption, multiculturalism, country life, fame, running away and deafness. They are set in a different States and depict children overcoming problems in different family and social situations.

Captain Johnno

A deaf boy makes friends with an Italian fisherman.

Devil's Hill

City boy and country cousin get lost in the mountains

The Gift

Peter and Pompey

Three Queensland children find Latin inscriptions in a cave. This leads them to discover an authentic Roman boat.
It was shot on location in North Queensland.

Cast

Plot

Kate, 14, the adopted daughter of wealthy couple searches for her birth mother.

Cast

Alice and her Aboriginal friend get lost while fleeing to Kakadu

Cast

Captain Johnno won the International Emmy Award in 1988.

Publication

VHS copies were made available for general release and at least one, Captain Johnno appeared in a subtitled classroom edition.
Originally only one of the six movies, Princess Kate, was released on DVD in Australia.
Echo Bridge Entertainment once offered Devils Hill, Captain Johnno and The Journey on 1 disk, and The Gift, Top Enders and Peter and Pompey as part of a 2-disk compilation with Rabbit Proof Fence and Secret of the Andes. In 2014 this title was no longer in their catalogue.
subsequently released Touch the Sun - Top Enders and Peter & Pompey, and Touch the Sun - Devil's Hill and Captain Johnno as two separate DVDs. These products are marred by occasional skips in content as though they have been dubbed from films which have been subjected to breakages and subsequent splicing.